


trust in a witch

by perfectlyrose



Series: Everyday Magic [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Magic-Users, Universe Alteration, magic!rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 00:30:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14988836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/pseuds/perfectlyrose
Summary: The Doctor has a couple of problems that Rose is uniquely qualified to solve.





	trust in a witch

**Author's Note:**

> set sometime before Counterspell

The lights in Rose’s room suddenly turned on full blast. She groaned, rolling over to bury her face in a pillow. “If this isn’t an emergency, I’m going to figure out how to turn you into a frog,” she threatened.

“Well, I’ve never been a frog. There’s a whole aquatic world of possibilities there,” Jack said from where he was standing in the doorway. “Gonna have to wait for another time though. Doc’s in a snit and I think it’s serious.”

Rose sat up, hoping the movement would help clear her sleep-fogged brain. “What’s going on? Are we still in the Vortex?”

“As far as I know. I’m not exactly sure what’s got his panties in a twist and he didn’t take me trying to help very well.”

Rose swung her legs over the side of the bed and looked around for a pair of sweats. “Did he ask you to get me?”

“Not exactly,” he hedged.

“And by ‘not exactly’ you mean what?”

“I mean that he was muttering what I assume to be curses under his breath instead of actually talking to me and then said something about whatever was going on never being a problem for you.”

Rose sighed. “Better go see what’s going on then. Where’s himself?”

“His study.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You know he’s usually in there when he wants us to leave him alone.”

“I followed the stream of invective straight to him. It’s his own fault for being so easy to find,” Jack shot back.

“Fair enough,” Rose said, shrugging one shoulder. “I can take it from here. You should get some sleep.”

“Someone around here should,” Jack agreed. “I’m going to stop by the galley for a drink first. It’s where I was headed before. Let me know if you need help with whatever the Doctor’s problem is.”

“I will,” she promised. “Thanks for getting me.”

“So, no imminent threat of me becoming an amphibian?”

Rose blushed. “Not right now, no.”

Jack was laughing as he set off down the corridor. Rose took a deep breath and walked the other way, hoping the TARDIS wouldn’t hide the Doctor’s study from her.

A quiet rant in an untranslated language told her she was close. The unassuming wooden door that led to one of the Doctor’s private rooms was visible a few meters down the hallway. She didn’t bother knocking before stepping inside.

The Doctor was pacing and occasionally gesturing towards the ceiling as he talked. He looked jittery and agitated. The fact that he hadn’t noticed her the second she stepped into the room was telling.

“Is this normally how you spend your nights?” Rose asked, leaning back against the door to close it. “Yelling at your ship and pacing?”

He startled and then shot a glare at the TARDIS wall, presumably for letting Rose find him. “Not every night, just the ones where she’s being unreasonable.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Is she being unreasonable enough to merit you worrying Jack with your pacing and yelling? Because you worried him enough that he came and woke me up to see what was going on.”

The Doctor stopped, his shoulders slumping as he looked in the direction of her feet. Stripped of his repetitive movements, he just looked exhausted, haunted even. “He went and got you?”

“Mhm. Woke me up from a dead sleep, said he didn’t know what was going on but it seemed serious and that you seemed to think the problem would be easily fixed by me.” She paused, giving him a chance to explain whatever was bothering him. He didn’t speak so she continued. “I’m guessing that it’s a problem my magic can solve.”

“He shouldn’t have disturbed you,” he mumbled.

Rose stepped closer, invading the Doctor’s space so she could rest her hand on his cheek. He looked vulnerable sans leather jacket and his normal vigor. “He cares about you, Doctor. I care about you. Tell me what’s wrong and we can work on fixing it.”

She rubbed her thumb across his cheek, felt the stubble that had appeared there. “Obviously stomping about isn’t helping.”

He quirked a smile at that and Rose let her hand drop. 

“The TARDIS managed to put my screwdriver up on top of the bookcases,” he admitted. “Hid all the ladders after that so I can’t get it back down and finish working on my project.”

Rose followed his gesture to the work table on the other side of the room where a bunch of metallic objects were located.

“And why has she gone to these lengths to keep you from this project?”

The Doctor muttered something under his breath that Rose didn’t catch.

“What was that?”

“She thinks I need to sleep instead of continuing to work,” he said, mulish look on his face.

Rose wondered how long it had been since he’d last slept. She’d noticed him getting grouchier the past couple of days but she hadn’t known why. The signs of his exhaustion were plain to see  now.

“Okay. Where did she put the sonic?”

The Doctor mutely pointed to the massive bookshelves to the right of where he was standing.

Rose took a deep breath and focused. It was always harder to summon an object she couldn’t see but she at least knew well what the sonic looked and felt like. That helped immensely in cases like this. 

She put her hand out palm up and mentally pulled. The sonic came flying off the top of the shelves and landed gently in her hand.

“Fantastic,” the Doctor breathed. His face was alight with wonder and interest as it often was when she used magic in front of him. Even that didn’t erase the shadows in his eyes and the bags underneath them, though.

“Can I have it back? I’ve got work to do,” the Doctor said when it became apparent that she wasn’t going to immediately hand over the screwdriver.

“Listen to me for just a second?” Rose ventured. “I’ll give you back the sonic as soon as I’m done.”

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest and nodded tersely.

“I think you have two options tonight. I can give you back the sonic and leave you to work on whatever it is you’re building over there and the TARDIS will try and find a new way to force you to take care of yourself. I’m telling you right now that I’m not waking up to bail you out again,” she warned. It was a lie but he didn’t need to know that.

“What’s the second option?”

“I give you back the sonic but you put it away for the night. You actually try and get some sleep so that you can work on your project tomorrow while actually coherent enough to make progress.”

The Doctor dragged a hand across his face. “It’s not that simple, Rose.”

“It could be.”

He shook his head.

“Let me try to help,” she pleaded. “The least you can do is come with me to make sure I get back to sleep after helping you.”

And if he came with her back to her room, she could maybe get him to lie down as well. He looked just exhausted enough that he would be asleep as soon as he was horizontal.

“You’re planning something,” he accused. “I know that look.”

“I’m going to try and get you to get some sleep, that’s all. Or at least a short lie-down. You come with me and lie down for half an hour. If you haven’t fallen asleep in that time, you can come back here and get back to work without me giving you judgemental looks tomorrow.”

The Doctor sighed. “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Rose grinned at him and handed over the screwdriver before taking his hand. She led them back to her bedroom and made a beeline for the bed, climbing in without preamble.

“Shoes off and then come join me,” she ordered.

“Are you always this dictatorial when roused in the middle of your sleep cycle?”

She shrugged. “I’d prefer not to know. I threatened to turn Jack into a frog when he woke me up.”

The Doctor laughed. “You didn’t.”

“I did. You can ask him about it tomorrow.”

“Did he ask how you planned on doing such a thing?”

“Nope. He’s still blissfully unaware of the fact that I might be able to actually do it if I found the right spell.”

He finished with his boots and sat on the other side of the bed, giving the duvet a suspicious stare. “I really don’t think this is necess-”

“Lay down or I’ll try and turn  _ you _ into a frog.”

“Going for the traditional witchy threats tonight, I see,” he said, settling in on top of the covers.

“I’m not at my most creative without caffeine,” she admitted. “Now, try and get at least a couple hours of sleep, alright?”

He didn’t answer, already having drifted off the moment he stopped moving. Rose smiled softly at the sleeping Time Lord and motioned at the light switch to turn out the lights before curling up on her side of the bed and finding sleep herself.


End file.
